Evening Brief: New Zealand, old evil

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Good evening to you.

There’s news late today that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will shuffle his cabinet for the third time in three months on Monday. Three government sources confirmed for CBC News that the cabinet changes are set for then, all to fill the gap left by the departure of Jane Philpott last month over the government’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

One option for replacing Philpott is to appoint current Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough to the Treasury Board post. Qualtrough, a Vancouver-area MP, temporarily assumed Treasury Board responsibilities after Philpott quit cabinet on March 4. That story from CBC.

In Canada:

Also on Monday, the controversy that’s consumed the Canadian political landscape for more than a month will pick up where it left when the House of Commons debates a Conservative motion to remove any barriers preventing Jody Wilson-Raybould from speaking about the events she experienced after she was removed from the post of attorney general. The House agenda indicates that Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen will move a motion on MPs’ first day back in Ottawa after two weeks that calls on Trudeau to waive “full solicitor-client privilege and all Cabinet confidences” to allow Wilson-Raybould to speak about the entirety of the SNC-Lavalin affair. The House agenda is subject to change. Charlie Pinkerton reports.

The Trudeau government is imposing new sanctions against Russia over the country’s attack on Ukrainian Navy vessels in the Black Sea in November. In a statement today, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada is blacklisting an additional 114 people and 15 Russian entities over the attack, which led to the capture of 24 Ukrainian sailors and several ships. It occurred in the Kerch Strait that links the Black and Azov seas. Global Affairs Canada said the sanctions were co-ordinated with the European Union and the U.S. in a display of “transatlantic unity” against Russia military interference in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea. The Kerch Strait separates Russia and Crimea. Marco Vigliotti reports.

Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough announced today that Winnipeg-based Magellan Aerospace Corporation has been chosen to receive three contracts worth $48 million to make illumination flares. The contracts are to make a combined 10,000 flares over the next five years. The almost $50 million sum also covers recurring expenses related to manufacturing. The flares will be used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during nighttime search and rescue operations. The flares are ejected from aircraft and descend to the ground by parachute. They produce 1.8-million candlepower of light for five minutes. Pinkerton has that story as well.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer issued a second statement today after facing a storm of criticism for failing to mention the terrorist attack in Christchurch was perpetrated against Muslims during Friday prayer. Other leaders, including Trudeau, all made specific mention to the victims being Muslim or at prayer in a mosque. But Scheer’s initial statement suggested it was “freedom” under attack.

The statement was widely criticized on social media and by anti-racism advocates, who pointed to the Conservative party’s past policies — such as the proposed niqab ban and the “barbaric practices” tip line — as well as Scheer’s failing to specifically mention the terrorist attack clearly targeted Muslims.

Although Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced this week it will close the Atlantic cod fishery on the Scotian Shelf and in the Bay of Fundy, it plans to keep allowable bycatch levels at 825 tonnes, which critics say violates the department’s own policy to keep all sources of fishing mortality as low as possible and hampers the endangered species’ chances of recovering. “This stock is so illustrative of the chronic problem of not following the policy,” said Robert Rangeley, director of science with Oceana Canada. Holly Lake reports.

Randy Hillier (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star)

In Ontario, Doug Ford has expelled a member of his caucus for the second time since last spring’s election. The Tories announced today that the premier has decided to permanently expel Randy Hillier, who was suspended last month for remarks made during heated debate in the legislature over autism services funding. The decision was delivered to Hillier in a letter from Progressive Conservative caucus chair Daryl Kramp. Hillier was booted from the Tory fold after yelling “yada, yada, yada” at the end of question period. The PCs say he yelled it at parents sitting in the public gallery who were angry about the government’s changes to autism funding, but Hillier maintains he was yelling it at an opposition MPP. That story from Marieke Walsh.

The Ford government is loosening restrictions on class sizes in Ontario as it tries to cut down a multi-billion dollar deficit. The average high school class size will be raised from 22 students to 28 students, the government announced Friday morning. Education Minister Lisa Thompson made the announcement at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. The changes prompted the union representing secondary school teachers to warn that the gap between the planned changes and class sizes protected in collective agreements is “unbridgeable.” Walsh has that story as well.

Kevin Vickers, hailed as a hero for helping to end the 2014 attack on Parliament Hill, is making a leap to politics with a bid for the leadership of New Brunswick’s Opposition Liberals. The former House of Commons sergeant-at-arms made the announcement to a packed hall today in Newcastle, N.B. “My roots are here. My heart is here. I love New Brunswick. And I love the people of New Brunswick. New Brunswick has been good to me. It’s now time for me to give back,” said Vickers, who is making his political debut in his early 60s. “I hope to make a difference right here in New Brunswick.” The rest of that story from The Canadian Press.

There’s a Canadian connection to the awful shooting in New Zealand. The guns and ammunition used in the mass killing of 49 Muslims in Christchurch were decorated with the names of several violent white supremacists, including Canadian mass murderer Alexandre Bissonnette. The inscriptions also cited several centuries-old victories by Europeans over Islamic forces, as well as the United Nations’ compact on migration, a common target for criticism by white supremacists. Global News reports.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on President Donald Trump to condemn the mosque shootings in New Zealand as “white supremacist terrorist attacks.” “You should condemn this, not only as a hate crime but as a white supremacist terrorist attack,” Nihad Award, executive director of CAIR, told reporters in Washington, D.C. “During your presidency and during your election campaign, Islamaphobia took a sharp rise, and attacks on innocent Muslims, innocent immigrants and mosques have skyrocketed.” Global News has that story.

Meanwhile, police in New Zealand are urging the public not to share a video that appears to show a gunman opening fire on worshippers during the deadly mass shooting. The video was apparently livestreamed on Facebook for 17 minutes by one of the alleged attackers and shows him entering one of the mosques in Christchurch and repeatedly shooting victims. The gunman then walks outside into the street where he shoots at more people on the sidewalk before returning to his car for to retrieve another rifle. “Do you want to help terrorists? Because if you do, sharing this video is exactly how you do it,” Steve Moore, a retired supervisory special agent for the FBI, told CNN on Friday. “Do not share the video or you are part of this.” He said sharing the disturbing video could inspire copycats. CTV reports.

“I don’t really, I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “If you look what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s the case. I don’t know enough about it yet.”

“The shooter is an evil, hateful person. He’s wrong about that,” she said. Some might beg to differ.

Still with Trump, he’s issued his first veto as president, rejecting a congressional resolution that would have blocked him from funding his border wall without congressional approval. “Consistent with the law and the legislative process designed by our founders, today I am vetoing this resolution,“ Trump said. “Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution, and I have the duty to veto it. And I’m very proud to veto it.” Politico reports.

Around the world today, including here in Ottawa, students around the world skipped class to join the Global Climate Strike and protest climate inaction. The day of action is expected to embrace about 100 countries. They are inspired by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who protests weekly outside Sweden’s parliament. The BBC reports.